Tagged: apricot

Did you watch the Oscars? I like watching the Oscars and Emmys (but generally hate the Grammys). I know the awards shows are always unfortunately long, and pretty boring during some parts, and there are always lots of screw ups because…live television, but it’s kinda fun to see what everyone is wearing, what outlandish and/or political stuff people talk about in their speeches, and see people actually having some personality other than the last character they played. I actually thought this was one of the better Oscars in recent memory. The whole “let’s have an offensive comedian host” thing was getting old, and I think Ellen fit the bill pretty well.

And call me a jerk, but I still cannot stop laughing about the whole Travolta mispronunciation situation and subsequent reactions. It’s hilarious.

Anyway…for the past few years, I’ve noticed a slew of recipes/photos of these little triangle cookies floating around the interwebs during March. Considering I hadn’t the slightest clue what they were, I figured I’d do a little research and test them out. Enter: hamantaschen. Hamantaschen, or Haman’s pockets, are apparently a staple of the Jewish holiday Purim. There’s obviously a lot of meaning and history behind Purim, but from what I gather, there is also much feasting involved. I like feasting. Since I’m no expert on Purim, you should do your own research to learn more. Start here.

Hamantaschen remind me of rugelach in a lot of ways, but the dough is heartier and the cookies are obviously larger. The dough is delicious (uh, hello…butter and cream cheese?) and not too sweet, while also taking enough of a back seat to let whatever filling you choose be the star of the show. And they pack up nicely, which is good because you probably shouldn’t eat them all yourself. But you totally can if you want to. I won’t judge you. It’s Fat Tuesday, so you have the perfect excuse. Continue reading →

Well, well, well. Here we are in blogland…again. The worst part of starting a new blog is the title. Should I go plain? Classy? Funny? Punny? It takes some thought. And once you realize you’ve wasted entirely too much time trying to decide where every potential title falls on your self-authored lameness scale, it’s time to just pick one and go with it. So here we are. Happiness is a warm bun. A Beatles reference. I know, I’m sooooo cool (totally kidding). Just so you know, though, I almost went with “I believe I can pie.” However, R Kelly gives me the creeps, so I passed on that one.

Also, I should admit that I can’t think of a time when I’ve baked buns. I’ll get to it though, I promise.

This can’t be the first post of a blog about baking without a recipe. I found this one from Joy the Baker (easily my favorite food-related blog out there), who adapted it from Dorie Greenspan. The addition of cornmeal and dried apricots to sugar cookie dough is surprisingly wonderful. Continue reading →